Mendoza, last stop before the Andes

Coming from Buenos Aires, the sprawling federal capital, one is struck by the calm of Mendoza. The fresh air, the sweetness of the population and especially the absence of the famous speeders "porteños" every reason to relax. It is surprising then oversized gutters of the city, a meter deep and 70 cm wide. They complement the unique irrigation system in the area: the waters of the Cordillera, redistributed in the vineyards of the region flow to Mendoza in the spring, giving false air sailors.

Do not think for as much as time stood still: here too, pollution is part of the "urban poetry". In addition, the frequent earthquakes destroyed the old buildings, leaving the city with a colonial architectural past. In the bus station in Mendoza, kiosks bus companies are all aligned, the old Indians are queuing behind portègnes on vacation. On a few displays, postcards seem to be waiting tourists since the 1980s. Outside, vendors discs, caps and hot water for the "mate" talk to each other.

To escape to the heights of the Cordillera, it must borrow the famous Route 7, the great Pan across the continent, from Canada to Chile. Two buses of the company "Expreso Uspallata" (pronounced "Uspaïata") connect each day the bus station in Mendoza Las Cuevas, the last village before the Chilean border at 3,181 m. They leave in the morning - at six o'clock and ten o'clock - and then back down in reverse.